AIM-PROGRESS Newsletter is out!

AIM-PROGRESS is pleased to announce the release of its third annual responsible sourcing benchmarking survey. The key trend of the 2013 survey is clearly progress. Members are moving forward with their responsible programs towards more established stages. AIM-PROGRESS members are investing more in Responsible sourcing practices, thereby having a growing positive impact on working conditions and human rights in their supply chains.

AIM-PROGRESS Newsletter Q2 2014

Mutual Recognition of audits takes a further leap

Mutual Recognition of supplier audits is a founding pillar of AIM-PROGRESS. "An audit for one is an audit for all" is one of tenets of the initiative, which seeks to drive convergence of member companies' responsible sourcing standards, as well as reduce audit burden on suppliers, who are often confronted with multiple requests from customers. To this end AIM-PROGRESS members regularly share a list of suppliers which have been audited by them over the last three years (without however divulging the brand manufacturer who commissioned the audit). If a company finds a supplier which has already been audited by another company, it can ask the supplier whether he would be prepared to make this audit available to them, instead of having to undergo another audit. This can save between 20% and 50% of audit needs, as some companies have reported. The latest shared list contains just short of 13,500 records and has been compiled by 23 participating companies. For more information on how mutual recognition works, please go to the webpage on Mutual Recognition.

On March 4th over 300 suppliers and buyers from the Fast Moving Consumer Goods industry met in Miami, Florida, to discuss responsible sourcing principles, best practice and experiences. This AIM-PROGRESS supplier event was hosted by member companies Nestlé, Givaudan and Bacardi. It was the 19th supplier event organised since late 2009. Over the years the supplier capability events have seen over 3,800 representatives of approximately 1,900 companies participate and are a very important aspect of communication and extending the expectations of our members through the supply chain.

As a forum of leading branded consumer goods manufacturers, AIM-PROGRESS has agreed on an ambitious set of objectives to help steer the initiative in the next three years. As CSR continues to find itself higher up the agenda of corporate strategy our members’ commitment to responsible sourcing is on an upward trajectory. Three strategic drivers are now guiding the work of AIM-PROGRESS:

These three strategic drivers will help focus the many activities of AIM-PROGRESS in the years to come.

Progress on Responsible Sourcing? Membership survey clearly says so!

AIM-PROGRESS is pleased to announce the release of its third annual member company benchmarking survey. This tool serves as an internal barometer for the AIM-PROGRESS members, providing for free, a wealth of very helpful comparative data in order to drive member companies’ programmes forward.

Data is gathered on areas ranging from budget and human resource information to audit numbers and reporting, all anonymised to comply with anti-trust and confidentiality requirements.

Some key highlights in the 2013 survey include:

Focus on Responsible Sourcing is on an increasing trajectory with 62% of members reporting increased resources being dedicated to this area in 2013
Number of audits commissioned has increased by almost 50% showing the extent to which more suppliers are becoming involved
Greater emphasis is also being placed on remediation; the number of corrective action plans initiated to tackle non-compliances has doubled
Audit fatigue is being reduced with more members reviewing and recognising audits through the mutual recognition audited supplier list every year
30% of companies have reported actually de-authorizing suppliers due to egregious practices, demonstrating the importance responsible sourcing has for the industry
80% of companies are conducting training with their suppliers which is a 40% increase from 2011.

The Global Social Compliance Program (GSCP) of the Consumer Goods Forum and AIM-PROGRESS are both global initiatives, and are seeking to enhance their cooperation in a number of areas of interest to both organisations.

These will include:

The promotion of GSCP reference tools, such as management systems, auditor competence and environmental management
Interoperability of data sharing systems
Exchange of best practice on supplier capacity building
Addressing “hot topics” and the possibility to formulate a common response to these areas in the responsible sourcing arena, where appropriate
Sharing AIM-PROGRESS reference documents on Human Rights and Business Integrity

Members of both organisations are updated regularly on respective new developments.

AIM-PROGRESS strengthens membership criteria

As AIM-PROGRESS continues to mature, the mission to enable and promote responsible sourcing practices stays the same. The level of commitment however is something that continues to rise. With this, the membership body has taken the opportunity to strengthen the membership criteria by which they all abide and new member applicants are judged. This includes requiring all members to:

attend at least one general membership meeting per year;
participate in the annual Responsible Sourcing Practices membership survey;
participate in the requirements of Mutual Recognition within 12 months of joining AIM-PROGRESS;
(co)host at least one membership or supplier event every three years.

The pro-active approach of AIM-PROGRESS members in strengthening these criteria demonstrates the commitment to responsible sourcing practices and the leadership position the branded FMCG industry holds in the responsible sourcing arena. To see the revised membership criteria, click here.

ITC-AIM-PROGRESS audit protocol benchmarking tool

Mutual Recognition of audits pre-supposes that members are confident their respective audit requirements are aligned. The audit protocol benchmarking tool developed by ITC (International Trade Centre in Geneva) to enable AIM-PROGRESS members to compare respective audit protocols continues to be updated at regular intervals to reflect evolving member expectations surrounding audit coverage and methodology. AIM-PROGRESS vice-chairman Stephen Fischer (Colgate-Palmolive) recently addressed the Intertek Ethical Sourcing Forum on the collaboration between ITC and AIM-PROGRESS and the project was very well received with both presentation sessions being over maximum capacity!

Next AIM-PROGRESS meeting

Pernod-Ricard will be host to our 23-25th June membership meeting in Reims, France. This meeting is primarily for members only, however AIM-PROGRESS welcomes interested FMCG companies, eligible for membership, to attend as guests to gauge their interest in becoming part of AIM-PROGRESS. Please send a message to Katrin Recke for more information (katrin.recke@aim.be).